


Mountain Rescue

by HSavinien



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Gen, Injury, Minor Character Death, Mountaineering, Nile Freeman appreciation week, Nile Freeman-centric, POV Nile Freeman, Post-Canon, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26437099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HSavinien/pseuds/HSavinien
Summary: There was a plane crash and the team is looking for survivors.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 71





	Mountain Rescue

Nile shivers inside her parka, extra thermal layers be damned. She isn't used to snow ops, but at least she doesn't have to worry about the steadiness of her hands too much. Her new labrys is strapped to her side for backup, which takes a lot less precision than a service rifle. The report says plane crash, though, nothing about opposition from anything but nature, so mostly she's carrying rescue tools. The rest of the team has experience with snow and mountains, but at least she knows basic climbing safety. 

The plane went down in a bad spot; too windy for a helicopter, not enough clear landing space for a rescue plane to get close. They landed a couple miles from the probable crash site and hiked in, setting up camp in the last clear space before the cliffs. Andy and Joe tromped two packed circles into the snow and they pitched their tents there, then built up more snow around them for insulation. Nile and Nicky built another berm across from the entrances, to cut the wind in that direction. They all piled into one tent like puppies, sharing body heat as soon as they changed into dry clothes, and ate self-heating MREs. Smelling bolognese on anyone's breath from six inches away isn't her favorite, but the warmth had been worth it. Now it's morning, their base camp left behind a few hours ago, and she's shivering despite the brilliant sunlight. Thank goodness for UV- blocking goggles. 

She digs her crampons into the snow and plants another spike. Nicky and Joe are acting as scouts up ahead, Andy is the center of the pack, coordinating, and Nile is anchoring their way back to safety. 

Joe yells and she looks up to see him waving. Andy's head pops up too and their hands are communicating something; she's not close enough to see the signs. Andy turns and waves them all over. Nile still takes her time anchoring the rope, but moves a little quicker than she has in the last hour. 

The scene below them isn't as bad as it could be. The plane broke on impact and one wing is missing, presumably lost somewhere upslope. The survivors used some of the emergency supplies, clearly. Wide red stripes spread out in every direction pinpointing the craft. It might be parachute silk or chalk or something else, but it's a lot more visible than the glint of silver from the plane. As she reaches her team, small figures wave up at them, calling out. They must have heard Joe's shout. Nile and Joe wave back. 

"How many were there?" Nicky asks, peering down through his binoculars. 

"Six adults, two children," Andy says. 

"I see five people moving," he says grimly. "Nile, extra spikes at the top here, please. We may have to carry people up."

"Right."

They lower themselves down in turns. One person died on impact. The pilot, Nile thinks. Her German isn't so good. The kids are alive and reasonably healthy and one woman has a broken leg, which will be tricky. Nicky unfolds a stretcher, which he'd carried in strapped to his back like a shield, and they get her on there and splinted up better. 

Nile and Joe unpack extra clothes and they get a few more layers on everybody, with windbreakers on top to keep them from losing heat as soon as they get out of this narrow valley. Andy stuffs hot packs in their pockets, then climbs back up the cliff with Joe belaying her. Nile adds a ground anchor, because they'll definitely have to carry the kids up and that's going to add a good 70 pounds of weight. 

It's a slog. They get three of the adults up the cliff before hoisting the injured woman up and Andy still has to yank one man back from the edge when he nearly falls trying to help get her onto solid ground. Joe takes the little girl, with Nicky tying her securely to his back, double-checking his knots, then belaying them up carefully. The last woman and her son go up together, then Nicky sends Nile up and takes the rear. Joe pulls him up the last bit and does his own safety check.

Once they're all on more level ground, Nile resumes her post, taking the rope up behind them and watching for signs of danger. Andy forges ahead, with Joe and Nicky in the middle now, helping the survivors along and dragging the stretcher like a travois.

The wind picks up as they go, and one man stumbles. Joe says something cheerful, patting his shoulder, and he nods and picks his feet up a little more. 

It's nearly dark by the time they reach their base camp. They split up this time. Andy and Nile take the women and kids into one tent and Joe and Nicky the other one with the men. They get them into dry clothes and zip into shared sleeping bags, then feed them warm food and water. Nile's feeling pretty good about it all until the uninjured woman bursts into tears. 

"Oh, no…"

Andy climbs over to her, wraps her up in an extra blanket with her kid, and starts singing what sounds like a lullaby in German. She's not a great singer, but that's okay. The woman shakes and shakes and then calms. 

It's the most obvious caregiving Nile has seen out of Andy in a year and a half. Her song is joined by the injured woman, then by Nicky's clear voice from the other tent, and the other men take it up too. Nile doesn't know the words, but she can hum along, and she feels herself relaxing as they start over and she starts picking up the sounds of the words, even if she doesn't know the meaning. 

This was stressful, but they rescued everyone they could. Tomorrow they'll reach the evac point and send these people home. 


End file.
